SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–MuleSoft, provider of the leading platform for building application
networks, today announced the findings of the 2019 Connectivity
Benchmark Report on the state of IT. Based on a global survey of IT
leaders, the report reveals that while 97 percent of organizations are
currently undertaking or planning to undertake digital transformation
initiatives, integration challenges are hindering efforts for 84 percent
of organizations. Close to half of all respondents (43 percent) reported
more than 1,000 applications are being used across their business, but
only 29 percent are currently integrated together, trapping valuable
data in silos.

The survey of 650 respondents also reveals that IT is struggling to keep
up with business demands, as 64 percent of respondents indicated they
were unable to deliver all projects last year. In addition, project
volumes are only expected to grow, with respondents predicting on
average a 32 percent increase this year. If digital transformation
initiatives aren’t successfully completed, nine out of ten organizations
believe business revenue will be negatively impacted.

Among the key results of the survey:

The IT delivery gap is widening as new technologies enter the scene

The role of IT is changing from a tactical function to a business
catalyst. However, the business’ growing need for IT support is
reflected in the increasing number of projects IT is expected to
deliver. In addition, with a growing investment in new technologies,
organizations are seeing integration challenges hinder digital
transformation initiatives.

Legacy infrastructure and systems was the most frequently reported
challenge to digital transformation. Furthermore, 59 percent of IT
leaders say their legacy
infrastructure makes it hard to introduce new technologies like
artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and the internet of things
(IoT).

The majority (69 percent) of IT’s time remains dedicated to keeping
the lights on compared to innovation. Further compounding the issue,
77 percent of respondents saw a budget increase of less than 10
percent this year. In fact, nearly one third (31 percent) of these
respondents reported that budgets had either remained flat or
decreased.

IT’s new role as a business catalyst

IT’s expanding role is driven by a greater need for support across lines
of business. As companies race to digitally transform, what was once an
IT-specific need for integration has now expanded to business units
across the organization.

IT and business leaders are more aligned than ever before: Respondents
who identified business and IT misalignment as a major challenge
dropped from 43 percent last year to 29 percent this year.

The alignment between IT and the business goes as far as sharing key
performance indicators (KPIs). Of the respondents currently
undertaking or planning to undertake digital transformation
initiatives, more than three quarters (77 percent) cite increased
business efficiency as a goal this year, and 71 percent cite improved
customer experience as a goal.

Preparing for the future one API at a time

For IT to become a business enabler, organizations are increasingly
turning to API strategies to support reuse and self-service. By creating
reusable assets, IT enables the business to increase overall delivery
speed and capacity.

91 percent of respondents from organizations that own public and/or
private APIs are experiencing significant business outcomes as a
result, including greater productivity (53 percent), decreased
operational costs (33 percent) and increased revenue growth (29
percent). For 36 percent of respondents, APIs are generating more than
25 percent of their organization’s revenue.

Respondents who manage their APIs like products were more likely than
their peers who own APIs to report increased innovation (49 percent
versus 40 percent) and greater agility across teams to self serve IT
(58 percent versus 46 percent).

Respondents who always reuse software assets when developing new
projects were more likely than their peers who own APIs to report
increased productivity (63 percent versus 53 percent) and revenue
growth (41 percent versus 29 percent).

“Today, businesses are competing on speed and agility as they race to
meet customer expectations. As a result, every organization is
undergoing digital transformation in order to offer a completely
connected customer experience. It has put integration in the spotlight
as a top-level business priority,” said Greg Schott, CEO, MuleSoft.
“With the IT landscape only growing more complex, organizations can
build their applications networks one API at a time, providing
businesses with an agile foundation for success in the digital era.”

“As organizations across all industries digitize their business models,
the ability to connect and reuse technology assets becomes a critical
capability,” said Steve Stone, technology advisor and former CIO of
several Fortune 500 brands including Lowe’s and L Brands. “Reusable APIs
serve as building blocks in the application network, enabling new
business models and simplifying the expansion of a connected partner
ecosystem. MuleSoft’s Connectivity Benchmark Report demonstrates the
importance of adopting a comprehensive API strategy in driving desired
business outcomes.”

The survey was commissioned by MuleSoft and independently carried out by
Vanson Bourne. A total of 825 IT decision makers were interviewed in
December 2018 across the US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Australia,
Singapore, China, France, Japan, and Hong Kong. To allow year-on-year
comparisons, all statistics in this press release exclude 175
respondents representing France, Japan and Hong Kong, who were not
interviewed for last year’s report. Therefore, the statistics in this
press release are derived from a base of 650 IT decision makers across
the US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, Singapore, and China. The
respondents were from enterprise organizations in both the public and
private sector with at least 1,000 employees. Interviews were conducted
online using a rigorous, multi-level screening process to ensure that
only suitable candidates were given the opportunity to participate.

About Vanson Bourne

Vanson Bourne is an independent specialist in market research for the
technology sector. Their reputation for robust and credible
research-based analysis is founded upon rigorous research principles and
their ability to seek the opinions of senior decision makers across
technical and business functions, in all business sectors and all major
markets. For more information, visit www.vansonbourne.com

About Anypoint Platform

MuleSoft’s Anypoint Platform™ is a leading application network platform.
It allows organizations to create composite applications that connect
apps, data, and devices through API-led connectivity to form a flexible
application network. Anypoint Platform is a unified, single solution for iPaaS
and full lifecycle API
management, both on-premises
and in the cloud.

About MuleSoft, a Salesforce company

MuleSoft’s mission is to help organizations change and innovate faster
by making it easy to connect the world’s applications, data
and devices. With its API-led approach to connectivity, MuleSoft’s
market-leading Anypoint
Platform™ empowers over 1,600 organizations in approximately 60
countries to build application networks. By unlocking data across the
enterprise with application networks, organizations can easily deliver
new revenue channels, increase operational efficiency and create
differentiated customer experiences. For more information, visit https://www.mulesoft.com.

MuleSoft is a registered trademark of MuleSoft, Inc., a Salesforce
company. All other marks are those of respective owners.